January 4, 2010

• Yeung Chow Fried Rice

  I love Yeung Chow Fried Rice.  This was probably the first dish I fell in love when I was a greedy and hungry boy.  It has everything I want – meat, a bit of seafood, a bit of veggies, rice (of course!), a nice balance of saltiness and a hint of sweetness.  If you have a kickass gas cooker (I don’t), you can get that lovely wok hay  (Mike – I want to cook in your kitchen).   I love the textures of the rice and all the ingredients inside my mouth.  This is the version my mom taught me. 

  Note: I didn’t take pictures of all the steps.  If my hand was a bit oily, I didn’t want to touch the camera.  Sometimes I found myself fiddling too much with the camera instead of focusing on the cooking.  If my mom was watching me, she would no doubt be going “ai ya… what are you doing?”

  The ingredients are simple. 
  Rice:  I like to cook this ahead of time (a day ahead is great).  If not, cook it several hours ahead, spread it out to let the steam escape. 
   

   

  BBQ Pork:  dice them into small sexy little chunks.  If the store gives you
  the BBQ sauce, save them for the rice later on.
  

  Shrimps:  Cut them into smaller pieces.  I gently floated some pepper and corn starch on top of the and then caressed them them in a bit of soy sauce and sesame seed oil.  Give them a very gentle stir and put them in the fridge (covered) until it’s time for them to jump into the wok. 
  

  Aromatics: shallots and green onions.  Dice the shallots and slice the green onions.  Separate the whites of the onions, the greens of the onions and the shallots into distinct piles.  (guess I forgot this step)
  

  Other ingredients:  soy sauce, chicken stock (optional), sauce from bbq pork, fish sauce, oyster sauce (I don’t use oyster sauce but I know some folks do), a bit of sugar, green peas (frozen is fine) and scrambled eggs.
  - defrost the peas in some warm water and tell them to wait patiently. 
  - scramble some eggs in a bowl (two eggs for a wok sized serving is fine).  Add a bit of salt, pepper and a couple of drops of oil to the scrambled eggs.

  Give those sexy BBQ pork a taste of the wok – heat up some oil, add a bit of shallots, throw in the bbq pork, quickly stir everything up. 
  
   

  Now in between cooking, you’ll need to clean the wok under hot water and scrub with a brush.  If your wok has a nice wooden handle – good for you.  If your wok has 2 small metal handles on the side – use oven mitts.  If you don’t, you’ll learn to swear in Chinese (or in any language) very quickly. 

  Cook the shrimps in the same manner, get the oil nice and hot, add the oil, add some shallots and maybe some of the green onions, and stir fry those suckers.  Just when it’s about done, add a splash of sherry and maybe a bit of soy sauce afterwards. 
  

  Repeat the wok washing… and go scramble some eggs.  (not pictured). 
  If your rice is dry you can probably just add the eggs right into the rice and cook it there.  If your rice is
  still a bit moist and sticky, I would cook the eggs separately and add them to the rice at the end.

  Cooking the rice:  get the wok up to temperature again, add the oil, wait for it to heat up, add the shallots and the whites of the green onions.   How much oil depends on how much rice you have.  If you find it
  starting to stick, add a bit more oil.   Start stir frying like the iron chef or else the rice will burn.
  Try to separate the rice so that it’s not in clumps.  Once it’s gotten nice and stir fried, you can add
  a bit of soy sauce, fish sauce and/or oyster sauce.   
  

  If you have some chicken stock, add just a bit to give it some more flavor.  You don’t want
  the rice to be wet.  Now add all the other ingredients (BBQ pork and a bit of the sauce, green peas (drained), shrimp, the remaining green onions, scrambled eggs) into the orgy. 
  

  Adjust your seasoning at this stage, make sure everything is nicely mixed. 
  If you’re adding the uncooked eggs, make a bit of a well in the centre of the wok,
  add the eggs in there and it’ll cook a bit faster, keep stirring so that everything
  cooks.  You almost want each morsel of rice to touch the surface of the
  wok. 

  When it’s done, serve promptly – best enjoyed with a cold beer.

  At this time, you can pause to take a picture.  If you’re eating by yourself,
  it’s ok to moan in ecstasy as you enter into the orgasmic stage.  If you’re
  eating with someone else, then you need to be a polite host. 
  

  p.s.  I hope I didn’t forget anything. hahahaha

  • 3:32 PM
  • 38 Comments